


Il Meccanico

by kaleleafs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, BAMF Bucky Barnes, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Tony Stark, Brainwashing, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes's Trigger Words, Civil War Team Iron Man, Conditioning, Hurt Tony Stark, Hydra Tony Stark, I know I'm sorry, Italian Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Kidnapped Tony Stark, Kidnapping, M/M, Mild Language, Mind Manipulation, Not Steve Friendly, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Past Relationship(s), Past Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Pepper Potts, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Violence, blink and you miss it - Freeform, except tony has them now, not team Cap friendly, probably not in a good way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-11-23 07:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20888534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaleleafs/pseuds/kaleleafs
Summary: He needs to get out of here. Getting kidnapped was so eight years ago and he's not naïve enough to believe that all of HYDRA has been eliminated. He's not that stupid. Usually.





	1. bene

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! this is the introduction chapter of a new story i'm starting based on a headcanon i had to an alternate ending of CACW where, instead of returning to the compound, tony is found by HYDRA. i'm thinking there will be 10-13 chapters so we will see! stick with me as this is my first long fic ever!

To say Steve is expecting the phone call would be a lie. He's self-aware enough to know that a flip phone and a note after everything that happened between them will never be enough to earn him forgiveness let alone repair whatever they used to be.

Especially since it's only been one month since what the media has deemed their "civil war."

As far as Steve knows, the world isn't ending, there aren't any aliens that have come down from space and everyone he used to work with is doing just fine. Which is why Tony should not be calling him right now.

Steve didn't think he'd ever call, really. Pride is an important thing to Tony, to Steve, as well, and he had taken it from him. Regardless, he can picture Tony's expression as he picks up the old phone, scowling as he complains about how his genius hands should never have to touch such an inferior piece of technology.

The image alone makes Steve's chest ache with something akin to heartbreak and he's picking up the phone before he even registers what he's doing.

"Tony." He's not embarrassed at the way the name catches in his throat. "I wasn't sure you'd call."

"Steve?" And that voice is _not_ Tony's.

"Nat?"

And, sure, him and Nat keep in touch so hearing her voice doesn't send a wave of longing through his entire body but it still leaves him ridiculously confused.

"How did you get this number?"

She's silent and he recognizes that she's deciding what information to give him, and how much of her carefully constructed mask she wants to let slip. A long time ago, that might have offended Steve, but not now. He doesn't have that right.

"Natasha."

"The phone was in a package on his desk."

And that's... strange to say the least. Steve had sent that phone weeks ago.

"Steve, when is the last time you saw Tony?"

He's ashamed to say his first instinct is to deny, deny, deny. Did Tony tell anyone about Siberia? Does Natasha want him to stew in his guilt until he spills the truth?

"You've probably seen him more recently than I have. The last time I saw him was the airport in Germany."

_Liar_.

"Steve, _I _haven't seen him since Germany."

"Wait-"

"He went to the Raft after the fight at the airport and no one has seen him since."

Steve thinks of scared brown eyes and the sound of metal on metal, sees the shield digging close to Tony's heart-

"Where is he? Someone has to know where he is?"

He doesn't want to think of another outcome.

"He sent a message saying he was taking some time off, heading to Italy for a breather."

"And you believed him?"

Tony, for as long as Steve has known him, had never taken a day off. This is the same man who spent 72 hours straight in his lab, engineering until perfection. The same man dressed in a three-piece Tom Ford sitting in the corner of the room, make-up doing little to hide the bags under his eyes. The same man who broke the law to be Steve's _friend_.

Warning bells are going off in Steve's head.

"He said he was _hurt_, Steve." Steve knows because he caused it. "Ross had been all over him for weeks, it was wearing him down. And then the MIT presentation... I was just surprised he hadn't broke sooner."

Steve's not sure what she's talking about, and it hits him just how little he knew about Tony in general.

"I couldn't blame him for wanting a break."

"Where did he go?"

Another pause.

"Taormina, Messina. East coast of Sicily. His mother had a small house there."

"And?"

"We hadn't heard from him. Rhodey offered to go."

The _but he can't walk_ is left unsaid. It makes Steve feel sick nonetheless.

"I went instead. He wasn't there, Steve."

And, clearly, there's something wrong with Steve's hearing because that's not true. It's not possible for someone like Tony to just up and disappear, not without a trace and certainly not for a whole month.

"-wasn't even lived in. No food, no clothes, no technology, no sign of life at all."

Steve gets what she's saying without her having to say it: Tony never made it to Italy.

Suddenly, an image of Tony struggling for breath as he fiddles with armor that probably felt like deadweight fills Steve's mind. The snow is red beneath him, and there's a gash on his cheek. He reaches for the helmet, messing with the wiring because he needs to send a message, needs to tell them he's okay, can't let them worry about him of all people-

"When did you last see him, Steve?"

He hangs up.

\- - - - - -

~ One month ago ~

If it didn't hurt so much, Tony would laugh. Though, he supposes pain is subjective anyways. His body aches, there's a cut on his cheek. Even with his vast expanse of injuries, he's sure the betrayal hurts worse. He should've known better. Tony Stark ruins everything he touches. Everyone who gets close enough betrays him.

The suit is too heavy for him to move his arms more than a few inches at a time. Without the injuries he could probably do it, but with the amount of pain he's in he can't do much more than lie here and think.

He's sure it'd be much easier if Steve would have just killed him. It's not like he would've been the first to try. Tony thinks he would have let him, too. What a way to go-- just like his parents. At that, he does laugh. He coughs up blood.

He doesn't _want_ to die, not really. Sure, it wouldn't be the worst thing ever. He wouldn't have to worry about the millions of careers that depend on Stark Industries, wouldn't have to worry about saving the world, about fixing the Accords, about fixing the Avengers. But he couldn't leave Pepper to deal with the blowout all alone, he wouldn't force Peter to grow up without the mentor he deserves and he certainly won't stop until Rhodey can _walk_ again.

With those thoughts in mind, he eventually reaches the helmet and thanks whatever deity exists that he installed a back-up power system for situations like these.

He records a message. It's simple, to-the-point, hopefully not suspicious. Something that says, "hey, I'm okay but I can't exactly come home yet." He'll go to Italy, get his thoughts together, give his body time to heal and then he'll go back.

That's fully what he intends to do. Just for a few days, escape to Italy, recover from his wounds enough so it doesn't look like he got his shit rocked by Captain America and then get back to work.

That would be all well and good if he could get his body to _move_.

At this point, Tony isn't sure how long he's been lying here— could be a few hours, could be closer to a day. Time doesn't seem to pass at all in the bunker; it sends an eerie chill down Tony's spine.

There are certain noises that keep Tony from losing himself in his thoughts completely. At first, he thinks he might be hallucinating them. It surely wouldn't be a surprise, what with his injuries and all. But as time passes oh-so slowly, they get closer.

It starts out as a gentle thumping, like someone walking on the platforms above him. They squeak and groan under the weight, getting louder as the person nears the ground.

Next come the voices. They're not English but they're too far away for Tony to place the language. He decides that this is a no good, very bad sign. He needs to get up. Now.

But the armor is heavy and a few of his ribs are certainly cracked if not broken. Tony is so sick of being broken. The best he can do is move an inch or two here and there— a slide of his head, a nudge of his finger.

Again, he thinks that Steve should have just killed him. This is an ex-HYDRA base, there's no way these people, whether figments of Tony's imagination or real people getting closer and closer, are the good guys. He needs to get out of here. Getting kidnapped was _so_ eight years ago and he's not naïve enough to believe that all of HYDRA has been eliminated. He's not that stupid. Usually.

He's proven right when three men finally enter his section of the bunker dressed head-to-toe in black tactical gear. Upon seeing him, their expressions light up and that's not a good sign for Tony.

"Hey," Tony, never one to really tread carefully in situations like these, calls out, his voice nothing more than a painful croak at this point. "Care to help a guy out?"

The three henchmen share a glance before the one in the middle, and go figure, he's the biggest out of three, steps forward with a smile that looks much more like a predatory grimace than a friendly grin.

"Sure, we can help." And that's rough English covered in a heavy Russian accent.

Russian.

"хватай его," the man growls, or maybe that's just the accent Tony isn't sure, and the group stalks forward like predators hunting their prey.

Because they are.

Yeah. Steve would have been better off just killing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter title translates to asset :)


	2. padre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We aren't going to make you do anything, Stark. You'll give us everything we need willingly, obediently and with none of that snark of yours."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say that i do NOT know italian! i'm using word reference, google translate and various websites to help me learn how to conjugate the words as i go. english is my first language and i'm minoring in spanish (which has some helpful similarities to italian) so please please go easy on me!
> 
> i will also put the english in parentheses next to the dialogue when i start using longer phrases! some words will just be translated at the author's note at the end of the chapter :)
> 
> in each chapter, one of tony's trigger words will be explained (which is why the chapters are titled after them)

~One month ago~

When Tony comes to, it's accompanied by a wave of pain and nausea. The cement floor is freezing but his wounds make him feel like he's being burned alive. He notes that, somehow, his captors managed to get the remains of the Iron Man suit off his body. Not that it'll be much use to them with FRIDAY down and Tony certainly won't be giving them any information, he'd rather die.

The room he's in looks like a standard HYDRA cell, which is less than comforting. The walls are blank, there's no bed, no toilet, nothing. It's four blank cement walls accompanied by an equally blank cement floor and ceiling. There are security cameras in each corner of the room. Tony supposes he should feel flattered that they find him so threatening. Mostly, he's just in pain.

His mind runs through everything they could possibly want-- money, the Iron Man armor, SHIELD information, the location of the Avengers, SI secrets... the list is practically endless.

What he does know is that they're getting absolutely nothing. Tony has made plenty of mistakes in his life, thank you very much, and he doesn't plan on making anymore.

When the door swings open, he isn't surprised to see a man clad in black tactical gear with the HYDRA logo on the arm. 

"Tony Stark," the man clicks his tongue, giving Tony a once-over as he nods approvingly. "You don't know how long we've been hoping for this moment."

"Well, now you have me. Like the view?" Tony snarks back, never one to hold much regard for his own safety. "What is it that you want? Oh, let me guess. Weapons? Information?"

The agent ignores him, clearly enjoying his time to monologue a bit too much. "And to think Rogers practically delivered you to us on a shiny silver platter! If we knew it was that easy, we would have teamed up with Zemo long ago."

That jab is a little too fresh and, quite frankly, Tony is growing tired of the infuriatingly thick Russian accent very quickly.

"Look, buddy. You're wasting your time here. Nothing you do will make me give you what you want and, given my track record, nothing good ever happens to people who kidnap me so you might just want to save yourself the trouble and let me out of here."

The man doesn't seem the least bit disgruntled by Tony's rambling which might be a first. And it definitely isn't a good sign. It means the guy is in this for the long haul and that hurting Tony isn't in HYDRA's best interest. Which means they have some other use for him, something that requires him to remain intact.

"We aren't going to make you do anything, Stark. You'll give us everything we need willingly, obediently and with none of that snark of yours."

The way he says it, so confident and sure, forces goosebumps onto Tony's skin. 

"In your dreams, pal."

"Well, we'll see now won't we?"

Tony needs to get out of here.

\- - - - - -

The next time Tony wakes, he finds himself strapped down to an operation table. He feels exposed, every inch of his body is on fire. There's something in his chest but there shouldn't be, the arc reactor is gone, he removed it. But there's something in his chest and it _hurts_ and-

"Mr. Stark, I advise you to calm down or this will be all the more painful for you." 

There's a voice somewhere and Tony tries to open his eyes to find its owner, but the whole room is spinning in a haze of bright yellow light. It feels like a bad trip which means they had to have dosed him with something.

"I'll admit, it'll be painful either way but the end result will be spectacular. Doesn't everyone want to be stronger, faster, _superior_? It's a shame you won't recall enough to understand it. Truly, I will enjoy it; altering one of the greatest minds the world has ever seen? I feel as though I've been given a gift. I will have to thank the Captain personally for this opportunity."

Tony thinks the man is a doctor, thinks he sees a lab coat, but is having a hard time following everything the man is saying. He can barely keep his eyes open, all he feels is pain as something enters his arm, worse than any trip to the hospital he's ever had. 

He can hear them murmuring as the darkness nears and he knows he should, but he really can't find the effort to fight it.

\- - - - - -

He starts the day in pain. He's used to pain, this hasn't been the first time he's been tortured, but somehow this feels worse than the other times. When he wakes up, he's in pain. When he goes to sleep, he's in pain. Pain is more like a state of being at this point. He heals fast, faster than he used to, he thinks. It gets harder to remember each day he's here... how long has he been here?

They strap him to a machine sometimes. It digs into his temples and restrains his arms and waist. They force him to bite down on some rubber object and, when the machine is turned on, he bites into it so hard that his jaw aches. The machine is brutal and makes it so he can't think. He doesn't remember feeling a pain like this in his life though, sometimes he thinks the whole process feels eerily familiar.

He can't remember why at the moment.

At first, when they started strapping him to the machine, they never talked. He thinks it was so he could focus on the pain, as if he could focus on anything else.

Later, there are words that come in Italian. He remembers liking Italian when he was younger, liked the way it sounded in songs though he can't remember who taught them to him.

Sometimes, despite words like _rispettare, soldato and meccanico_, he gets flashes of people. There's a dark-skinned man with a kind face and soft words. There's a young boy with wild curls and an eager smile.

He knows his name, though, from what he's been told, Tony Stark isn't a man worth remembering. He's a bad guy, a guy who makes weapons and destroys everything he touches. According to the doctor, they're just making him into the man he was always meant to be.

He's not sure who that is at this point.

They tell him that he only has ten words he needs to remember. Remember those ten words and then everything can go blank, they will take care of the rest. Part of him knows it's a lie, they won't take care of him, won't help him like they say they will. But another part yearns for the silence, the lack of thinking. Maybe with silence comes a sort of painlessness and he's so, so tired of being in pain.

So, the next time they strap him in the chair, they say the words. They hurt almost as much as the chair does, they're memories, reasons why he aches to forget. They picked the memories on purpose, they picked them to hurt. He remembers the words though, because they tell him to and they tell him he's made a lot of mistakes in his life. But if he does this one thing, then it'll erase the bad things. He doesn't want to disobey.

And so they come in succession like a sad summary of his life: _padre, creatore, arma, perdita, distruttore, deserto, cuore, spazio, inverno and capitano_.

He can still remember, doesn't understand why the easy state of mind won't come, and it still hurts. The words hurt him, cut deep to the bone in a kind of pain his altered body can't heal from.

_Padre_.

He thinks of being young, of wanting to impress his _padre_ and thinking his opinion meant the world. He would build and build and build yearning for a little admiration, just wanting to make his _padre_ proud. 

A lot of times, those interactions ended in destruction. They ended up with his creations on the ground and tears in his eyes. But Stark men don't cry, a _bene_ doesn't cry, and so he sucked it up. _Padre_ used to say he needed a firm hand, a good slap across the face, a belt against the back. The pain not unlike every time the people here take a swing at him.

He remembers the feeling of a bruised eye, of going to school and being made fun of for it, of his mom doing nothing to stop the abuse. His _padre_ never gave his approval, never told him he was proud of him, never said that he loved him. He remembers feeling hurt and cold and alone and wonders if everything has really just come full circle.

His _ammaestratore_ says it's okay to give in, he knows he shouldn't but he wants to. He's not sure there is anyone out there coming for him anymore. He's not sure there is an end in sight.

\- - - - - -

~ Now ~

"Do you have anything?" Natasha peers over Rhodey's head at the screens in front of them. She's not sure how long they've been holed up in Tony's workshop, probably as long as he's been missing.

"No, FRIDAY is using every means necessary to track the suit but since communications were lost, it's nearly impossible," Rhodey explains calmly though Natasha knows he's anything but. This is his best friend, has been for more than two decades, and now he's missing. And they didn't even know. "Fuck, what happened to him after he left the Raft to make his suit go down like that?"

Natasha has a good idea. She saw the footage of the Raft, knows the security cameras conveniently went down right around the time Tony went to talk to Sam. She wonders if Sam would talk to her if she could get into contact with him since clearly Steve won't.

Which further solidifies her theory. Steve has never been good at lying, or maybe he's just bad at lying to her. He's hiding something, something about the last time he saw Tony. And, knowing what she knows about the Winter Soldier, she's willing to bet it has to do with Tony's parents.

There are some things it doesn't explain, like why Tony's suit was down, why he lied about going on vacation, what happened to him that day and why Steve apparently refuses to help. She supposes it's only a matter of time before the truth comes to light, it always does whether someone wants it to or not.

"Something bad, James. Something very bad."

\- - - - - -

"Meccanico, t'avere a missione." (Mechanic, you have a mission)

"Io sono pronto a assecondare." (I am ready to comply)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> padre // father  
creatore // creator  
arma // weapon  
perdita // loss  
distruttore // destroyer  
deserto // desert  
cuore // heart  
spazio // space  
inverno // winter  
capitano // captain  
bene // asset  
ammaestratore // handler (animal trainer)


End file.
